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“Now eat up. Your eggs are getting cold.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she replied politely, but she wasn’t hungry. She took a long sip of her drink. At least she was getting her vitamin C. She took a bite of her eggs to be polite and found them delicious.
“Who the hell are you?”
Janel looked up from her half empty plate to see a blonde woman, eyes shooting daggers at her. Animosity and jealousy flowed in waves from the irate woman. This she understood. Even in her world, she was used to dealing with people so insecure in their lives the only way they could feel good was to bring someone else down.
“Prez didn’t mention a new hire. What are you, housekeeping? With your figure, you’d never make it in the bar.”
Sitting up straighter, Janel ignored her insult and replied, “No worries. I’m not here as an employee. I’m here with Dozer.”
The woman laughed and executed the perfect hair flip. Janel studied her mass of platinum curls. Extensions, if she had to guess. With a superior grin, the woman replied, “Sure you are. That’s why I left him sleeping in my bed after a very exhausting night.”
She winked and added, “If you know what I mean. I’m Karma, by the way.”
Of course she was. Everyone knew karma’s a bitch. Janel refused to let the nasty woman see she’d hit her mark. She kept her smile in place and hopefully the eggs she’d eaten. “Perhaps a nap would improve your disposition.”
How could Dozer do that? Finding out that he’d slept with this woman so soon after being with her hurt more than discovering her fiancé had used her to spy on her country for his family. She wasn’t going to look too closely on the reason for that. Especially after he could move on so quickly and without any consideration of her feelings at all.
Laughter had her turning to look behind her. One of the burly tatted men that had come in had a woman straddling him on one of the large black leather couches on the other side of the room. Janel blinked when the guy pulled her shirt off and buried his face in her breasts. The woman giggled, shaking her head back and letting her mane of brown hair fall around her shoulders. The next thing to go was the woman’s shorts, leaving only the small string of her thong. Janel wasn’t sure, but from the specific adjustments and hip movements, she thought they were having sex right there in the room where everyone could see them.
Heat bled up her neck until her cheeks were on fire. Janel had forgotten about Karma until she heard the woman laugh at her reaction.
“You won’t last the day,” Karma predicted and frankly Janel agreed with her.
Janel turned back around and kept her eyes on the food left on her plate.
“Leave her alone, Karma,” Violet warned her. “Go get the tables stocked for the day.”
Karma grinned at Violet. “I was just getting to know the new girl.”
“She’s not one of you girls. She’s here under KOC protection. Unless you want Dozer all up in your face, you’ll carry on with your morning tasks.”
Violet’s admonition did nothing to dissuade Karma. “Yes, ma’am. And my first job is to take Dozer a cup of coffee back to my room. Candy will be here soon and she can stock. I’m probably going to be late if Dozer has anything to say about it.”
She leaned across the bar, her huge breasts pushed up against the wood, as if she was leaning in to tell Janel a secret. She lowered her voice and said, “Dozer always wakes up with morning wood and he loves me to suck him off.”
The vile woman smacked her lips and ran her tongue around them like she’d eaten some delicious delicacy and Janel wanted to vomit.
Pleased with herself, Karma headed to the kitchen. Violet patted Janel on the shoulder. “Don’t let her get to you, sweetie.”
Janel nodded and tried to give the kind woman a smile, but she failed horribly. Karma came back out of the kitchen with two steaming mugs of coffee, one plain white and one with a cartoon cat on the front. With an arrogant grin on her face, she walked by them and out the bar’s door.
Someone called to Violet from the kitchen. “Do you need anything else, dear?”
Janel assured her she had everything she needed and Violet hurried to get back to work.
Tears built behind her closed eyelids as she fought to gain control over the force of her emotions. The first man she’d had any interest in since James had to be a man who didn’t want her. Why would he? She couldn’t compete with a sexually experienced woman like Karma. She had nothing to offer him.
Nobody wanted her. She’d only been a job to James. Wait, that wasn’t even his name. What had Luc called his brother? Jovani. Her James was actually Jovani. Someone she didn’t know. He didn’t live an hour away from the palace as she believed—his home was in the States. They hadn’t met by accident at the youth camp—he’d been sent there to not only meet her, but to become close to her.
Everything they’d shared through the years were lies. All lies.
Would he have married me?
She didn’t know, would never know. Did she even know herself anymore? She thought she did. Since she’d been in Pikeville, she’d felt like her old self. But now she’d taken two steps forward and then suffered a major backslide. Coming to America, visiting her mom’s roots, was supposed to help her to move forward and let go of the past. Now the past was nothing more than a fantasy she’d created in her mind. Fostered by James, yes, but never real.
“Good morning.”
